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Tuned 3 Yamaha P22's 30 minutes away. Lowered all 3 about 1/4 tone to 440. Got there about 9:30, yapped for a bit and was home again by 12:30. Tuned last in April. Pianos had to be on pitch, they use them with each other and with other stuff and for concert junk. Practices etc.

Then on to an 1885 Steinway with original action parts. I filed hammers and did a bench reg over the weekend. The action slipped right in, and with a bit of voicing and tuning was ready to go. I'm amazed at how smooth the reg went on those old parts. The result was very even.

Then, Winter showed it's face again - a customer who had a "country music star" of sorts coming for dinner needed a tuning today on his Winter grand. I'd tuned this in 2008, and it had held pretty well, for a piano with an outer rim less than 1/2" thick.

I finished up, and noted the outside temp was 87 degrees as I drove away. Winter was over. I went home, fed my DAG some GRUB, and he wagged his tail.

The CFIIIs that had broken strings last week today. I came in and listened to the pianist playing it and winced before I remembered them. I told him what the problem was. It sounded good during the show.

The Steinway D yesterday sounded good, too, which was a bit embarrassing, because I have them on a campaign to replace the hammers. The piano is from about 1928, bought new for the building, and the hammers have been replaced once, but it is time to do it again, along with the repetition springs. Regular maintenance will keep it going without a complete rebuild, which they could not afford as easily, especially since it is on the second floor of the building. I replaced the strings 10 years ago, and with any luck they will last another 60 years.

The last 2 days were Yammie days. P22's. Nice tuning pianos. I have it great right now. Cept'n for today. I have 1 Yamaha P22, 1 Baldwin Acro., 1 Kimblah, Winter, Spinet, 1 Aeolian spinet. The positive? I've tuned these pianos exactly 1 year ago today. The negative? Would be if I were to somehow find them 1/4 tone sharp. I wonder if they would stay there?

Installed a Dampp-Chaser™ system in a Wurlitzer vertical in a church, then tuned two 1960's vintage Hamiltons at an elementary school. Those old blonde Hamiltons are work horses! They keep going and going and going....

I take back my last post. Turns out, I had to tune 5 pianos today. My son tuned one of them, I had to touch up some octaves and a few unison's but, 3 of them were Yamaha P22's, 1 was an Everett studio and 1 was a Story & Clark spinet. Had to raise pitch on all 5 of them. Still, 1/2 days' worth of work for me. I love it!

First a 1969 Acrosonic that had to come up 30 cents. New customer, and this was another one of those pianos whose top 4 notes have never been tuned; they were around 150 cents flat. After that, a Kimball console at a church, followed by a newer Story & Clark at another church. Then finished off the day with a newer Wurlitzer grand that was 50 cents flat, had out of phase bass strings, false beats throughout the treble, and terribly tight centers on the damper levers. Glad that one's done!

Kimball Console, Schimmel grand, Essex studio, Stein L, Stein L, and finally a Pearl River grand - the most notable of the lot. This piano lacks action glide studs, so I shimmed the center rail and did a reg two years ago to get aftertouch. The strings snap past the bearings, and inharmonicity is soooo high, I had several choices for bass string location. Octave, naw, lets use a double octave, hmmm, try a fifth, naw, octave and fifth, naw, back to the double octave, check the 10ths, hmmmm, note above is a bit out, retune that, try the seventeenths, hmmm, found another that,s not quite right, back to the double octave, and finally after much messing around, treble chords with a bass root sounded good. Actually, it's not a bad sounding piano, once all the farting around with the tuning is complete.

Yamaha G-3 that I do every 6 mos., basically tune the mid range (wet-weather #) touch-up. Yamaha RX-3, a year old, very close to pitch. Tuned, teflonned knuckles, pushed down on the balanciers to smear the existing lube onto the spring tips(a new trick I thought might be worth trying--it worked! the ticking is gone...for now, anyway).An ancient Steinway, serial #33237, not sure of the model. According to the Steinway website, it was made around 1876. 85 notes, joined tail, some good sized soundboard cracks. But the old thing still sounded pretty good, considering. I hope I sing that well when I'm 135 years old!Tuned and pitch raised a ear-splittingly bright Weber studio, a former rental.Pitch adjusted and tuned a Kawai K-25 that I've been servicing for 8 years, but only every couple of years.I picked up my 10 year old lad for my weekend with him, and I tried to explain to him why I don't want the music so loud in the car.

Me, I went north to the cottage yesterday after work. Sucked up leaves for 3 hours after dark. Was supposed to rain today. Froze my you know what off. Came in, took a nice HOT shower, warmed up, went to the neighbor's down the road, partied for a while, went to bed (duh), woke up, closed down the 2nd cottage and then came home again. Now, cottages are closed for the winter. Such a shame summer is so short in Michigan.

As a matter of fact, yes! There was a pretty big symphony concert here once. A concert grand was rented; the outfit delivered the piano and their tech tuned it. It then sat under the hot stage lights for a few hours. By the time the soloist arrived, she was complaining that the bass was out of tune. The concert was due to start in 45 minutes! There would have been no way for the tech from the company who rented the piano to get out there again in time, so my phone rang with an urgent request if I could get down there and touch up the bass. I said I could. They told me that a security vehicle would meet me at the entrance to the complex and that I should follow them and they would escort me to just outside the rear stage entrance, where I could park while I work.

COMPLETELY OT: Nothing piano today, but for playing my own a little. Watched the SF Giants win the National League title in typical nail-biting-blood-pressure raising fashion. I think they won something like 50 games by one run this year. GO GIANTS!

Les, you like spraying? This one is a difficult one, and will take some time. Antique black walnut with highlighted detail and darkened trim rails/edges. I use the regulator attachment (without a gauge) underneath my hand and turn down the air to about 10-12lbs to do the shading.

Yesterday some of my family was here from out of town. I was going to cook dinner for them, but one of our birds is convalescing in the dining room, so we went out instead. I had gotten tickets for a show in the series I tune for, and I took them to that. I was a bit worried that there might be some trouble downtown, but the rain took care of that. The best performer in the show was a substitute for another artist who was recovering from malaria, which is a tale for my MD niece to tell her friends and colleagues.

I have never had a police escort, but I have had chauffeured limousine rides.

Was supposed to rain today. Froze my you know what off. Came in, took a nice HOT shower, warmed up. Such a shame summer is so short in Michigan.

Mid 80's and sunny here once again......It hasn't rained in three weeks....... Day off on Friday - I think I'll go to the beach...... or maybe the wetlands to see some birds and gators. Wanna come, Jerry????

The University has an out door ice skating rink during the Holidays. There is also a place displaying ice sculptures, and a few places that do truck in snow. So we get a taste, and a taste is all we want!

I just got burned by a customer. She was expecting me to "pop in" to take a look at a piano I'd previously condemned, just to tweak a couple of notes to stop them sticking. She was hoping I'd do this for free, and I should have picked this up from the call and the way she communicated, but I didn't, so I went there, did my best to free up the notes (It was the WORST overdamper action I've ever seen, I couldn't even remove the hammer or the whippen!), and then when I said I would have to charge, she damn near burst into tears. She's trying to organise her grandfather's funeral at the moment in NZ, so obviously has a lot on her plate and lot of pressure on her wallet.But she'd also been looking at new pianos to replace the one she has. I gave her some advice, before the payment issue came up, said she could certainly look for a second hand piano that will be cheaper and just as good if not better than any new piano she could afford.I'll be in touch with her via email to resolve this, a bit more experience and I'm sure I'd have managed to avoid the situation. Really frustrating though!

I just got burned by a customer. She was expecting me to "pop in" to take a look at a piano I'd previously condemned, just to tweak a couple of notes to stop them sticking. She was hoping I'd do this for free, and I should have picked this up from the call and the way she communicated, but I didn't, so I went there, did my best to free up the notes (It was the WORST overdamper action I've ever seen, I couldn't even remove the hammer or the whippen!), and then when I said I would have to charge, she damn near burst into tears. She's trying to organise her grandfather's funeral at the moment in NZ, so obviously has a lot on her plate and lot of pressure on her wallet.But she'd also been looking at new pianos to replace the one she has. I gave her some advice, before the payment issue came up, said she could certainly look for a second hand piano that will be cheaper and just as good if not better than any new piano she could afford.I'll be in touch with her via email to resolve this, a bit more experience and I'm sure I'd have managed to avoid the situation. Really frustrating though!

I feel for you Phil:

This sort of thing hasn't quite happened to me, but if it does I have a plan in place. I will write out a bill, give it to them and say "This is my charge. Pay me what you think the work was worth." If they pay it, then or later, fine. If they don't, I will not make a fuss. It would be bad for my reputation. Every business should plan for some bad debts. It is just another expense. Of course I would not provide any more services, either. If I could not satisfy them before, I probably could not later.

_________________________
Jeff DeutschlePart-Time TunerWho taught the first chicken how to peck?

A Kimball console (Schwander action) and Baldwin Hamilton at an elementary school, followed by a very nice Steinway B that was rebuilt in the 90's. After that, a 1955 Everett console that had to come up around 30 cents. Easy day.

A circa 1920's Steinway upright, original except for key tops. Plenty of wear. Tuned and quoted partial and full rebuilds. Pins still tight. Then to a Conn console (a stencil built by Kimball). Cabinet all beat up, main action rail split on right side at the glue joint, so the top 7 keys were dead. One broken bass string - found it in the bottom. Two walking hammer flange center pins. Quoted a repair price and the decision maker said they would buy a keyboard instead so I walked away with a service call fee. Then to a 50's era Wurlitzer spinet, still in good shape. Raised pitch and voiced some notes.